Joel B. Pollak

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How successful was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a special joint session of Congress on Tuesday? Judging from the changed reactions of his media critics, almost all of whom praised the speech, it was a complete triumph.

Speaker of the House John Boehner will present Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a bust of Winston Churchill when he arrives to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, according to the Speaker's office.

Israeli Prime Minister addresses Congress on Tuesday, March 3. His topic, as per Speaker of the House John Boehner, is to explain "the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life.”

While nearly 1 in 4 congressional Democrats had announced their intention to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, one California Democrat said that he was "honored" to have been chosen to be among the legislators who escort Netanyahu into the House chamber.

President Barack Obama took a stab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with Reuters on Monday, on the eve of Netanyahu's controversial speech to a special joint session of Congress on Tuesday morning. Obama said that Netanyahu "made all sorts of claims" about the interim nuclear deal with Iran that turned out to be untrue. Yet Obama mischaracterized Netanyahu's remarks, and misrepresented Iranian compliance with the terms of the interim deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address Monday morning to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) seemed a curious addition to his visit, a kind of undercard bout before the main event. It turned out to be one of his best speeches ever, the perfect setup for his address to a special joint session of Congress on Tuesday. The 34 Democrats who are boycotting the address are likely feeling that they made the wrong decisions. Here are 5 reasons why.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previewed his speech in Congress on Tuesday when he addressed the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday. "Reports of the demise of the Israeli-U.S. relations [are] not only premature--they're just wrong. You're here to tell the world that our alliance is stronger than ever," he said, to applause. "Never has so much been written about a speech that hasn't been given," he joked.

UN Ambassador Samantha Power told the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday that the spat over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress on Tuesday would not affect relations between the two countries. The relationship, she says, "transcends politics, and always will." She said that the partnership between the U.S. and Israel "should never be politicized," even if there were debates about the best policy to deal with common threats.

The battle over pony rides at the Santa Monica Farmers Market is a classic study in how a tiny minority of activists can seize control of a city to destroy a business--and how a business owner, and the public, can fight back. The saga began last year, with a campaign by a radical animal rights activist to remove Tawni Angel's pony rides and petting zoo from the market. In September 2014, the City Council voted in the dead of night to advise that the pony contract be dropped.

In most democracies, and especially small ones, politics ends at the water's edge. Whatever criticism the opposition might have about the government, especially the leader, it refrains from doing so purely for the benefit of a foreign audience. Not so for the Israeli opposition, headed by Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Union, who has not only bashed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to the United States as a purely political move, but has done so in a New York Times op-ed.